Monthly Archives: February 2004

February 19, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

Anti-semitism yes, cultural suicide perhaps not

The Jerusalem Post reports that Jewish leaders have again appealed to the European Union to take a lead in stamping out anti-semitism on the continent. Nobel Peace Prize winner and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel stated the “Jewish communities in Europe live in fear.” If the experiences of members of my wife’s family in France are any guide, Wiesel’s statement is no exaggeration. The situation results from a combination of the »
February 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Essence of Motown

The arrival of the singer/songwriter phenomenon in the 1960’s seems to have contributed to the death of Tin Pan Alley and the decline of popular songwriting as a profession. While some of the singer/songwriters like Bob Dylan and Paul Simon have consciously aspired to a place in the firmament of songwriters, the writerly workmanship even of the best singer/songwriters does not quite rise to the level set by the great »
February 19, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

A distinguished veteran looks at Kerry and Bush

James Webb, Vietnam veteran, veterans’ activist, and author of a novel about Vietnam, seems well-positioned to discuss how his fellow Vietnam vets size up a Kerry-Bush race. In a USA Today column, he argues that these veterans aren’t likely to have much regard for either candidate. Kerry, says Webb, earned the disdain of veterans for his his activities as the leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW): “Kerry and »
February 19, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

The great, but shifting, divide

Noam Scheiber of The New Republic thinks that John Kerry “is right to be scared” over the Wisconsin primary results. Scheiber bases this view on an analysis of the Wisconsin vote by income category. He argues that Edwards’ strong showing among upper income voters means that the more sophisticated voters are turning to Edwards, and that this may signal a burst in the Kerry bubble that could cost him the »
February 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Too good for average Joe

Tom Bevan of RealClearPolitics briefly quotes from Howard Dean’s remarks yesterday to devastating effect. Dean said: “And I said when I left the governor’s office that if the rest of this country were like Vermont this country would be much better off. And what we set out to do was make the rest of the country more like Vermont.” »
February 19, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Average Joe

I’m not a huge Peggy Noonan fan, but I like her description of President Bush in today’s Wall Street Journal: Mr. Bush is the triumph of the seemingly average American man. He’s normal. He thinks in a sort of common-sense way. He speaks the language of business and sports and politics. You know him. He’s not exotic. But if there’s a fire on the block, he’ll run out and help. »
February 19, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Hypocrisy Reigns On the Left

I’ve never been one to get especially exercised over hypocrisy; sometimes, it can be a good thing. But there are two examples in this morning’s news of hypocrisy so stunning that they can’t be allowed to pass without comment. First, Michelle Malkin blows the lid off a story on Lynn Woolsey, a liberal California Democrat with all the usual feminist credentials: “Ms. Woolsey has promoted women’s rights in Afghanistan; called »
February 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Whither the Deaniacs?

We have not made a point of following the comments posted by Howard Dean’s enthusiasts’ on the Dean campaign’s official site, Blog for America. However, we have taken a look at the site to check the reaction to Governor Dean’s withdrawal from active campaigning yesterday. Governor Dean’s announcement appears to have prompted expressions of bitter disappointment that suggest the possible nontranferability of the Deaniacs’ support to the remaining viable candidates. »
February 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

From the mixed-up files of John Kerry

Under the heading of “Political torture,” James Taranto noted yesterday in his OpinonJournal Best of the Web Today column that John Kerry “has the dubious and perhaps unique distinction of being a presidential candidate whose speeches have actually been used as an instrument of torture against Americans.” Taranto was of course referring to Kerry’s notorious 1971 testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Taranto linked to yesterday’s Los Angeles Times »
February 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

It’s the jihad, stupid!

Robert Spencer homes in on the reality underlying my proposed campaign slogan in “Jihad: The real terrorist enemy.” »
February 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Return of the Naked Protest

During the run-up to the Iraq war, we felt it was our duty to cover the rash of nude protests that broke out world-wide. Likewise when PETA and English fox hunters joined the nude protest craze, on opposite sides. Then, for a while, things died down. But the nude protest, for better or worse, is back with a vengeance. In Berlin, students stripped to protest cuts in university funding. (I »
February 18, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Today’s good news

June Carter Cash almost literally had country music running in her veins. She was the daughter of Mother Maybelle Carter, one of the members of the original country music act, the Carter Family. She became a star in her own right and went on to even greater heights as the wife and musical partner of Johnny Cash. Last year she preceded Cash in death by a few months. June Carter »
February 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Mail From Our Readers…

…is one of our favorite aspects of blogging. We love to get emails; we read them all, and try to respond to as many as we can, although our day jobs sometimes make it hard to keep up. Readers often point us to interesting news stories; a lot of our mail is funny, almost all of it is intelligent, and we get surprisingly little hate mail. One of the most »
February 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

More Poll Data

Several readers have pointed out that today’s Rasmussen Tracking Poll shows President Bush with a five-point lead over John Kerry, 48% to 43%, the largest lead either man has had since Kerry became the Democrats’ front-runner. As Dafydd ab Hugh says, “Gallup has Kerry 12 points over Bush, Kerry shooting up seven points from a week ago. Rasmussen has Bush 5 points over Kerry, Bush shooting up six points from »
February 18, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

“Tomorrow he’ll be yesterday’s man”

Mark Steyn’s post-mortem of the Dean campaign consists mostly of Steyn’s writings from the early days of Dean’s candidacy. This was Steyn’s take on July 5, 2003: “Dean is a not quite telegenic guy: he »
February 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Democrats Clobber Bush In Latest Poll

In the most recent USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll, John Kerry holds an astonishing twelve-point lead over President Bush among likely voters. John Edwards leads Bush by ten. Surprisingly, Bush fares better among all registered voters, although he still trails. The only hopeful sign in these dreary results is that Bush’s approval rating is still in positive territory, albeit only slightly–51% to 46%. This suggests that a substantial majority of respondents currently »
February 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Walk, Don’t Run

This morning the New York Times published a letter from George McGovern. McGovern wrote to take issue with the conclusion of a recent column by Tom Friedman on Iraq: “We will not run.” McGovern says: This determination to stand and fight is tempting to political leaders. The trouble with this appeal is that brave young Americans do the bleeding and dying »